Pundit John Giles has suggested that Manchester City have downgraded by bringing in Mateo Kovacic as a replacement for Ilkay Gundogan.
After it was announced that the German had joined Barcelona as a free agent back in June, the Manchester club revealed that they had signed Kovacic on a four-year deal from Chelsea worth a reported fee of £30m.
With the new season just a few days away from kicking off, one pundit has shared his thoughts on the Croatian and how he could fit into Pep Guardiola’s squad.
Pundit thinks City may have downgraded with Kovacic transfer
Speaking in a recent video on the Off The Ball YouTube channel, Giles had this to say about Kovacic and his move to City.
He said: “You wouldn’t think he’d be in that standard, he’s a good player but I don’t think he’d be as good as the ones that have just gone but we’ll have to wait and see on that one.”
Having made 221 appearances for Chelsea, this shows the top-level experience he has and will be able to offer Guardiola’s team.
Although, the 29-year-old only scored six goals during his time with the west London club, which is fewer than the 11 goals that Gundogan managed to score across all competitions last season.
This could be why Giles may think the new City midfielder may not be on the same level as the departed German.
However, after making his first appearance for City in their pre-season friendly against Yokohama F. Marinos last month, Kovacic ended up impressing his new manager as Guardiola had this to say about his performance.
He said: “Really good. He is an exceptional player, we know it. It’s just the first game. He has to know us and what we want. But really, really good.”
Moving forward, if the Croatia international can show how impressive he is on a regular basis, he could well end up becoming as important as Gundogan was for them and put to bed any doubt about his ability.
